According
to eye witnesses, October 29, from 8:00am to midnight 12:00am in
local time, hundreds of heavy-equipped police and security
personnel had imposed curfew on the major campuses of
universities in Inner Mongolia including Inner Mongolian Normal
University, Inner Mongolia University, and Mongolian Language
Professional School in Huhhot, capital city of Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, China. A planned concert by “Hurd”, a popular
band from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, at the Inner Mongolia Normal
University theater was suddenly canceled just as 2,000 Mongolian
students had gathered to watch the concert. “No one was allowed
to get in and out of the campus,” says a Mongolian student of
the Inner Mongolia Normal University who asked not to be
identified, “and under the school authorities’ collaboration
many plain clothes security personnel questioned us if we have
any plan to ‘make trouble’”. “All of our unsold tickets were
confiscated, and all ticket holders were forced to return their
tickets,” says another Mongolian student who was one the
organizers of this event, “then they forced us to cancel the
concert.”

On October
22, a similar event happened in Mongolian Language Professional
School. Several Mongolian students were arrested and detained,
and many were questioned for organizing a gathering to watch the
concert of “Hurde”, a popular band created and performed by
several ethnic Mongols in Inner Mongolia. Reportedly, this event
was also forcibly canceled by the authorities for the band
members’ close link with the Darhad Mongols who have been
strongly resisting the local government’s plan of privatizing
the Chinggis Khaan Mausoleum. According to several internet
forums, since two weeks ago, many Mongolian students have been
arrested from Inner Mongolia University, Inner Mongolian Normal
University, and Mongolian Language Professional School, and some
of them are still being held by the authorities for
“distributing leaflets and planning demonstrations.”

As a
symbol of the national identity of the Mongols in Inner
Mongolia, Chinggis Khaan Mausoleum located in western Inner
Mongolia’s Ordos region, has been maintained by the Darhad tribe
for hundreds of years. It is considered a sacred site by the
Mongols. Even after the Chinese Communist Party set up the
so-called “Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region” in 1947, it was
still seen as an important expression of the titular autonomous
rights of the Mongols in the region. All of the ritual
ceremonies and public events at the mausoleum were conducted and
performed by the Darhad Mongols until today even though they
were carefully planned and monitored by the authorities.
However, according to a leaflet distributed among the Mongols in
Huhhot City, recently, in order to pay its heavy debt, the local
government has decided to sell the mausoleum to a local Chinese
company named “Dong Lian”. The company plans to demolish the
mausoleum to build up a larger one, which will be called “The
Second Chinggis Khaan Mausoleum”, in order to attract more
tourists and generate more profits for the owner, named Hou, a
Han-Chinese businessman.

“Any
disrespect and damage to the mausoleum should be considered
damages and disrespect not only to the Darhad,” the leaflet
condemns Dong Lian company’s outrageous actions, “but also to
the Ordos Mongols and to the world Mongol community.”

“Tension
between the government and the Mongols especially the Mongol
students is escalating, and people’s anger is not easily
appeased,” Ms. Xinna, wife of Hada, an ethnic Mongolian
political dissident who is currently serving his jail term in
Inner Mongolia No.4 Prison for organizing a peaceful
organization, answered the interview by the Southern Mongolian
Human Rights Information Center over the phone. As the prime
target of every security tightening and “bitter striking” by the
authorities in Inner Mongolia, Ms. Xinna’s family and relatives
could not escape police and security personnel’s harassment and
intimidation this time as well. “Since October 27, at least a
dozen police came to my place and kept me, my son, my sister,
and my 80 year old mother incommunicado until midnight
yesterday,” Xinna says, “we ran out of food, and were not
allowed to go shopping. We had to order food for delivery from
restaurants for nearly 4 days.” According to Ms. Xinna, at
least 2000 tickets were returned, and individual ticket price
ranged from 40 yuan to 90 yuan. As to why the authorities
canceled the concerts and imposed curfew on the campuses, Xinna
revealed the authorities’ reason is that “these are illegal
gatherings without getting approval from the relevant
authorities.” “In fact,” Xinna says, “the true reason is that
the authorities are afraid of the gathering which could cause
‘trouble’ because of the anger of the Mongols who are unhappy
with the authorities’ plan to sell the Chinggis Khaan Mausoleum
to a Chinese businessman.”

According to a Mongolian student who has been the webmaster of a
very popular Mongolian student’s forum called “Mini Mongol” (
www.minimongol.com
), since the recent conflict between Mongolian students and the
Inner Mongolian authorities, his forum has been subjected to
close monitoring and frequent harassment by the Internet
police. On October 29, the Inner Mongolian Security Bureau
personnel talked to the webmaster over the phone ordering him to
shut down the forum. The reason for the forum shut-down is that
the Internet police have found “some separatism articles
published on the forum.”

If you would like to add your name to a
petition drive opposing the sale of the Chinggis Khan mausoleum
and lands to a commercial enterprise and support the continued
role of the Darhad Mongols, please send an email to webmaster@smhric.org
with your name and address. Please continue to check this
website for further updates.